


Bubbles

by Lost_in_stars



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: F/F, Feelings Realization, Fluff, Flying, Holding Hands, Kissing, Lesbians, Stargazing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:00:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27589214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_in_stars/pseuds/Lost_in_stars
Summary: Lazy, golden sunlight streams in through the window, and it lights up Max’s face, decorating her freckled cheeks with the shadowy shape of flowers from El’s lace curtains. El wants to pinch this moment between her fingertips and put it in a little bottle, and keep it safe and hidden forever. Eternity, was the word that Hopper taught her.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Maxine "Max" Mayfield
Comments: 7
Kudos: 49





	Bubbles

**Author's Note:**

> So, I kind of wrote this on impulse? And I'm really tired, but I'll probably wake up tomorrow and edit it. But for now, my dudes, this is unedited as FUCK.
> 
> Uh, enjoy this fluffy bullshit?

“I want to fly.”

The words are spoken decisively, with an edge to them that is laced with threat. Max is always defensive of everything she says, El has noticed. She protects her words and her opinions with the same anger that El has when she protects her friends. Everything Max says is sure of itself.

El nods. _Wanting to fly is a very normal thing_ , she thinks. El wants to fly sometimes as well, but her powers require too much concentration to really enjoy the moment. She’s made herself hover once or twice, but it’s not the same sense of happiness that El is sure other people feel, that Mike felt, when they fly. “I can make you fly,” She offers.

“Really?” Max rolls on her side, her red hair splayed out across the pillows. Lazy, golden sunlight streams in through the window, and it lights up Max’s face, decorating her freckled cheeks with the shadowy shape of flowers from El’s lace curtains. El wants to pinch this moment between her fingertips and put it in a little bottle, and keep it safe and hidden forever. _Eternity_ , was the word that Hopper taught her. She wants this moment to stay for eternity.

“Yeah,” El agrees. “I made Mike fly, once.” The moment she says Mike’s name, Max gets a little sour, pinched look on her face. If El were to look into her mind after she says Mike’s name, she would find _bitch mean keep away from El what does she see in him mean bad guy_ instead of Max’s usual, and current, _El warm sunlight very pretty very nice El pretty El skating beaches El beautiful_. “I can make you fly, too. Make you float. Like you are swimming, but in air.”

Max sits up so suddenly that it startles El up as well, and the moment is broken with a _pop_ like the bubbles El likes to play with. She has bubble mixture on her shelf – and she now she wants to try and capture their little moment in something much more strong than bubbles, something like rocks and wooden chests and a movie playing over and over again on the television. “Will you really?” Max exclaims, blue eyes going all big and excited like a puppy. When El nods, Max lets out a happy screech and falls back onto the bed, which makes a sound like _plop_ and makes El giggle as she slowly lowers her head back onto the pillow so they can go back to staring at each other.

Max’s cheeks are decorated in freckles. El zones out as Max begins to rant excitedly about the idea of flying, and instead focuses on the golden tan of Max’s skin, on the constellations scattered across her face. Blue eyes, big and bright like the sky. Pink lips, always moving and speaking and making sure that Max can talk even though Dustin says it’s the tongue that does most of the word but she still thinks it’s the lips that really make words and Max’s lips are _pretty pretty pretty_.

“El?” Max says, and El thinks she really needs to get something stronger to hold moments than a bubble.

“I can make you fly today, if you want,” El says, and her heart does a funny little thing when Max grins wide enough and bright enough to rival the sun.

“Oh my god, that’d be gnarly, El! I think I’m going to cry, holy shit.”

“Please don’t cry.”

Max gets a soft look in her eyes. She lets out a little hum that sounds like a laugh, and presses the palm of her warm hand against El’s cheeks. “I wont,” She says. It sounds like a promise. El’s heart does a funny little thing again. It feels like it’s swelling with warmth like when she sees a puppy.

The sun steadily gets covered by a cloud. When Max and El sit out on the front porch, watching all the little creature move around in the forest, a cloud drifts over the sun and turns the yellow into a nice, calming grey. It starts to rain, but only a little. The drops feel more like mist than anything else, and the forest smells wet and fresh, and El can’t look away when Max closes her eyes, directing her face up to the sky and smiling softly. Max loves rain. This is something El has learned over the few months she’s known her. Max loves the rain. She loves storms. She loves rain and thunder and lightning and even though she was raised near the big, blue sea, Max seems to have a fascination for the sky. Sometimes, when they’re having sleepovers, El will wake up to an empty bed. Often she has walked around the house looking for her and found her on the front porch, watching the stars. They don’t talk about the times that they’ve spent sitting on the wooden steps, staring up at the universe that is too big for El to even think about, or that one time Max was telling El about her dad, about her mother and Billy and her step-father and El held Max’s hand like Mike holds El’s.

Flying in the rain is dangerous, El decides, but they go walking up to the very top of the quarry anyway. There’s a small clearing in the forest, a few steps away from the quarry road, and Max drags El to the clearing so she can do cartwheels. Max is always moving, El has noticed. She’s like the tornadoes Dustin tells her about, the ones that spin and create chaos.

When the rain finally stops, El’s mouth hurts from smiling. Max looks up at the sky, then down at El, and her eyes do that soft look that El has grown to adore so much. “Can I fly now?” She asks, and giggles nervously.

“You can fly now,” El confirms.

It seems like the world goes still, and El thinks this bubble might be stronger than the last. Her and Max stand in the middle of the quarry road, staring at each other. Max is nervously bouncing, but other than that, the world is still, like it is holding it’s breath.

El concentrates. Very hard. And slowly, steadily, Max starts to raise into the air. She gasps, a little huff of air escaping those pink – _pretty pretty pretty_ – lips of hers. It comes out like a little cloud. Max hovers a few feet above the ground, and El tries to give her a second to adjust to the feeling of flying, but sometimes when El is feeling a big emotion her abilities seem to have a mind of their own. She wants to send Max up into space, wants to make her twirl like a dancer and fly with the sparrows that are watching curiously among the trees.

A little drop of blood comes out of El’s nose. She ignores it in favour of sending Max higher. Accidentally, Max jolts upwards, which results in a little scream from the redhead. The sound of surprise quickly turns into laughter, and then, “ _Higher_!”

Max goes up and up and up, and she whoops loudly enough to make her voice bounce off the cliff. El sends her to and fro, watching with a funny feeling in her chest as Max cackles and laughs and tries to touch the sky. To El, it seems like she’s part of the sky, but to Max, she must still feel like the blueness is out of reach.

“I can see the whole world!” Max shouts.

El’s mind says _Max pretty happy sky clouds stars blue red Max float love Mike? Love Max love Max love Max and pretty pretty pretty lips_ and she realises with a start, that she might be in love with Maxine.

As a result, her concentration wavers for a single second, and it’s enough to send Max plummeting to the ground. Max screams, high pitched and terrified and El’s mind turns to _HELP MAX MAX MAX MAX_ and she manages to catch her just in time but her heart is beating so loudly in her ears and she gently lowers Max to the ground.

Max lays there for a moment, panting, and for a horrible second El thinks she might have scared her too much. Maybe she’s ruined their entire friendship, and even though El thinks she might want something more than a friendship she definitely doesn’t want to lose Max altogether.

Then Max starts laughing.

She looks insane, El decides. Laying there on the rocks, covering her face with her hands and cackling loudly. “Oh my god!” Max laughs, breathless. She pulls her hands away, then stares up at El. Her eyes are wet with tears. “Oh my god,” The redhead repeats, but it sounds soft. Like a promise.

_I don’t want this bubble to pop_ , El thinks.

“Are you okay?” El asks, falling to her knees beside her. “I got distracted. Are you okay? I am so sorry.”

“Oh my god,” Max says for a third time, and reaches her hand up to gently stroke El’s cheek. The connection sends electricity through El’s veins, makes her heart beat furiously against her chest. “I could have died.”

_I wouldn’t have let you_.

“I could have died,” Max whispers. “Without ever getting to kiss you.”

El’s mind says _Max?_ And Max’s mind says _El?_ But neither of them are thinking, just moving together and meeting halfway.

The bubble doesn’t pop for a long, long time.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> Tumblr: xxlost-in-starsxx


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